You hear the eBay chime on your phone and tense up a bit. “Maybe it’s just a “watched item ending soon notification” or a shipping update,” you think, maybe even pray. Then you see it: New message received from ___.

You may recognize the username as one of your buyers, or it could be totally new to you. Either way, it’s best to check it out as soon as you’re able. But depending on the message, you might not even need to respond.

This eBay selling tip covers some of the most common messaging scenarios and how to appropriately respond to (or ignore) messages.

Scenario 1: Issue with the item you sold

Not gonna lie, these are the worst. There’s bound to be some skepticism when you receive a message from the buyer telling you that something is wrong with their purchase (it’s broken, missing pieces, open, won’t turn on, etc.) especially if you described the item accurately and packed it safely.

Ultimately, a buyer is able to return any purchase for any reason regardless of your return policy. If you receive a message about an issue with an item, here’s what your response should do/say:

• Greet the buyer and thank them for their purchase
• Acknowledge and apologize for the issue
• Offer some troubleshooting tips, if applicable
• Let them know you’re happy to provide a full refund if they return the item

Staying calm and professional is important. It’s easy to get defensive if you feel the buyer is making false claims, especially if you’ve been burned before. Sadly, some buyers are aware of eBay’s favoritism of the buyer and exploit this policy, trying to squeeze refunds out of sellers who want to avoid negative feedback or an eBay case.

The above response works great here since it requires the buyer to send the item back for a full refund. If the buyer is simply fishing for a partial refund, they’ll usually back off and you won’t hear from them again. If the request is legitimate, you’ve handled it professionally and can initiate the refund process.

Always respond to messages about issues with an item. Your responsiveness and professionalism in one message can completely deescalate the situation.

Scenario 2: Request for additional item info

No matter how many pictures you include or how clear you try to make your description, there will always be buyers asking you for more info on the item. The good news is that a message can be a good indication of what kind of a buyer the person is.

If they rapid fire a million questions or ask for the complete history of the item, it’s usually best to leave those alone. A buyer like that can be totally justified in asking all of those questions, but they’ll likely be hard to please.

If they start asking technical/compatibility questions, that could result in setup questions once they receive the item or a potential return if they don’t actually know what they need to buy. Unless you’re a subject matter expert or are willing to coach the buyer along, it’s best to leave these be or play the “I’m not sure, I’m sure Google would have some answers” card.

In general, I respond to questions only when I feel my response will help lead to a sale and the buyer has decent feedback (100+). In my experience, answering questions that don’t meet that criteria is a waste of time. The user will either ghost you or try to haggle you down since they’ve had some back and forth with you.

That won’t be the case every time (and some sellers response to every message), but I’m just sharing my experience in case it saves you a headache or two down the line.

Scenario 3: Would you take X$?

I’ll be honest, I never respond to these messages. Here’s why:

• I have best offer on all of my items, so the buyer can send an offer directly
• The offers tend to be far below the asking price and would have been automatically declined

Granted, a new buyer could still be learning the platform, so it never hurts to mention that offers can be sent directly through the listing. If you feel like responding, you can either go back and forth on price or simply state that you’re looking to get as close to your asking price as possible.

A buyer asking the “lowest” price or something along those lines usually never comes through either. In these instances, it’s fair to tell the buyer that you’ll consider all reasonable offers and see where it goes, if you choose to respond.

Again, it could just be in my experience that questions like these lead to dead ends, but it’s worth sharing if it helps you avoid any hassle.

Now go list!

Hopefully these tips helped you get a feel for how to prioritize and respond to messages on eBay. If you feel like you should respond to a message, then definitely do so. Otherwise, always consider what messages are worth your time and seem most likely to actually put some money in your pocket.

As always, feel free to share any stories, tips, or thoughts below!